Jersey Pilots lose in extras to North Jersey Eagles

Originally posted on jerseypilots.com


After tying the game in the ninth, the North Jersey Eagles scored three runs in the top of the tenth as they beat the Jersey Pilots, 6-4.


The Eagles got on the board first. Ryan Rivera led off the fourth inning with a walk and then Chris Baldi hit a single to put runners on first and third. Zach Tondi knocked in Rivera with a single and Baldi scored later in the inning on a Kenneth Hayden groundout.


I

n response, the Pilots scored one run in three consecutive innings. It started in the fifth inning when Pat Geraghty scored on a Christian Zazzali double. In the sixth, Tommy Trotter led of the inning with a single, moved over to second on a Vic Konstantinovsky bunt, and scored on a Greg Kocinski single. Brian Dudeck then scored in the seventh on a Geraghty single.


To begin the eighth inning, Baldi and Tondi reached base. North Jersey shortstop Paul Rufo was the next batter and he hit a groundball to Drew DeAngelis at shortstop. DeAngelis fielded and threw to Zazzali at second. Zazzali received the throw, but was taken out by Tondi, who had tripped and fell after sliding. The umpires ruled that Tondi, who was out at second, interfered with Zazzali, As a result, Rufo was out at first and Baldi had to return to second base. Instead of having one out and runners on the corners, the Eagles had a runner on second with two outs. Matthew Stalter struck out to end the inning.


North Jersey tied the game in the ninth. Shane Woelfel led off the inning with a walk and then stole second base. Woelfel scored the game-tying run when Dalton Filotei’s fly ball was dropped in centerfield. Filotei almost put the Eagles ahead later in the inning. After advancing to third on a fly ball, Filotei tried to steal home after a pitch got past Konstantinovsky, the Pilots’ catcher. However, Konstantinovsky retrieved the ball and tagged out Filotei at the plate to end the top of the ninth.


The Pilots had their own opportunity as well to win the game in the ninth. Stephen Petriello, pinch-hitting for Dudeck, came up to the plate with one out and DeAngelis on first. Petriello ripped a double into the right-centerfield gap. DeAngelis attempted to score on the play, but was thrown out at the plate.


The first two Eagles batters of the tenth inning, Rivera and Luis Amaro, walked. After a fly out, Rufo reached on an error, loading the bases. Stalter then knocked in a run when his groundball was mishandled. The next batter was Woelfel, who hit a 2-RBI double to make the score 6-3.


Jersey put together a rally in the tenth. Zazzali and Trotter walked to start in the inning and Kocinski hit a single that scored Zazzali. However, the Pilots could only get one run across in the tenth, leaving them two runs short of extending the game further.


The Pilots, now 4-6 after the loss, return to action on Father’s Day with a doubleheader at the South Jersey Giants. The first game scheduled to begin at 3:00. For more updates and news on the Pilots, go to jerseypilots.com or @ACBL_Pilots.

Pilots lose both games of a doubleheader to Lehigh Valley

Originally posted on jerseypilots.com and acbl-online.com

After splitting a doubleheader on Saturday, the Lehigh Valley Catz beat the Jersey Pilots in both games of Sunday’s doubleheader at Synder Avenue Park.

The Catz won the first game 5-4. The Catz got on the scoreboard first when right fielder Joseph Coyle came up with runners on second and third and hit an infield single, scoring a run.

Jersey retaliated with two runs of their own in the third. Center fielder Tommy Trotter hit an RBI triple and then scored on a Drew DeAngelis groundout.

The Catz tied the game in the fourth when David Moyer hit a solo home run and then reclaimed the lead in the fifth. Lehigh Valley DH Benjamin Bortz led off the inning with a double. Anthony Gaetaniello followed the double up with a bunt single and then Stephen Cohen walked to load the bases. After that, second baseman Nick Todero knocked in two runs with a double of his own. The Catz added a third run on an Anthony Rinaldi sacrifice fly to make the score 5-2.

The Pilots put together rallies in the fifth and seventh, but could not equalize Lehigh Valley. In the fifth, Trotter knocked in a run on a single. The Pilots also loaded the bases in the inning, but could not score any more runs. Stephen Petriello hit a solo home run in the seventh to bring the score within one, but the Pilots were unable to even the score.

In the second game, the Pilots scored first. To start the bottom of the third, Brian Dudeck hit a single and advanced to second on an error. The next batter was Nicholas Marini, who walked. After a fly out, DeAngelis hit an RBI single and Greg Kocinski walked to load the bases. Petriello then hit a weak groundball to the pitcher, but the Catz catcher dropped the throw, allowing a run to score.

The Catz scored six unanswered runs to end the game. In the fourth, Lehigh Valley scored one run when William Anderson hit a sacrifice fly. In the fifth, the Catz scored three runs when Todero walked with the bases loaded, John Collin McGeary hit into a fielder’s choice, and Doug deMarrais singled. The Catz tacked on two more runs in the seventh to make the score 6-2 when McGeary doubled in two runners.

Lefty Ian Carbone picked up the win for the Catz in first game, while Peter Moore got the win in the second. Both pitched all seven innings. Pilots’ pitchers Christopher Rossi and Tommy Giunta received the losses for game one and game two respectively. With the two loses, the Pilots fall to 4-5 while the Catz improve to 4-5. The Pilots next home game is Wednesday, June 17 against the North Jersey Eagles at 6:30. Check jerseypilots.com and @ACBL_Pilots for updates and more information.

Pilots Lose Home Opener 3-1

Originally posted on jerseypilots.com

The Jersey Pilots lost their season and home opener 3-1 to the North Jersey Eagles at Snyder Ave Park.

All of the Eagles runs came in the second inning. North Jersey catcher Zachary Tondi led off the inning with a single and was soon joined on the base paths by John Kukura, who walked. North Jersey right fielder Shane Woelfel then ripped a double into gap, scoring both baserunners. Woelfel then scored on a Ryan Rivera single.

The Pilots scored their only run in the eighth inning. After being no-hit for the first 7 1/3 innings, Pilots first baseman Greg Kocinski and left fielder Ryan Jennings had back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third with one out. During the next at-bat, Jennings broke for second base. Eagles catcher Frank Mayo threw the ball to second base, where the throw was bobbled. Jennings was safe at second and Kocinski, who broke from third base on the throw from Mayo,

was safe at home. 

Jersey had only two hits on the day, but did draw five walks. Pilots starting pitcher Tommy Giunta went 5 1/3 innings and picked up the loss. Catchers Vic Konstantinovsky and Stephen Petriello both threw out a runner attempting to steal.

The winning pitcher for North Jersey was Mike Sgaramella. He threw three innings of no-hit ball, but did surrender four walks. Daniel Rajkowski also threw three innings of no hit-ball in relief. Jordan Fontenelle closed the game out for the Eagles and had three strikeouts in his one inning of work.

The Pilots fall to 0-1 on the season, while the Eagles improve to 1-2.

The next game for the Pilots is on Sunday with a game time of 6:30 p.m. It is Ben Smookler Day in honor of the Pilots late owner and general manager. There will be pre-game ceremony honoring Smooker. For updates on the Pilots, check jerseypilots.com and the team’s twitter page: @ACBL_Pilots.

The Dodgers-Braves Trade: Impact on the Dodger's Third Base Situation

The Teams: Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves

The Deal: Atlanta Receives: 3B Juan Uribe and RHP Chris Withrow
                Los Angeles Receives: INF Alberto Callaspo, RHP Juan Jaime, LHP Eric Stults, 
                and LHP Ian Thomas

The Assignments: Jaime was sent to Extended Spring Training
                              Stults was designated for assignment
                              Thomas was sent to Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Stats: Uribe - .247/.287/.309, 1 HR,  6 Runs, -0.2 rWAR, .981 Fielding%, 2.21 RF/9
                 Withrow - Recovering from Tommy John
                 Callaspo - .203/.293/.252, 1 HR, 12 Runs, -0.4 rWAR, 1.89 RF/9 (at 3B
                 Jaime - 2 G, 0 GS, 0-1, 6.75 ERA, 10.64 FIP, 3.000 WHIP, 0.0 rWAR
                 Stults - 9 G, 8 GS, 1-5, 5.85 ERA, 5.38 FIP, 1.280 WHIP, -0.4 rWAR
                 Thomas - 5 G, 0 GS, 0-0, 3.38 ERA, 6.51 FIP, 1.688 WHIP, 0.0 WAR

Juan Uribe
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While this trade does not appear to be a major deal based on stats alone, it will have a big impact on the Dodgers. Juan Uribe was a beloved teammate in Los Angeles and many players and fans are going to be sad and angry to see him go. Even though he was struggling to start the year, Uribe was coming off of arguably the best season of his career. While I believe Uribe is past his prime, he would have been a good contributor and leader off the bench for the Dodgers. 

This deal opens up the starting third base spot, where Justin Turner and Alex Guerrero will battle for it. Both players have had hot starts, which made Uribe expendable in the first place. Turner and Guerrero are also both in their second seasons in LA, even though their roads to this point are extremely different. 

Turner is a 30 year-old utility infielder in his fifth full major league season. After struggling in his first few seasons, he finally hit his stride last season, hitting .340 with a .404 OBP and 4.2 rWAR in 109 games. He is continuing the trend this season with slash line is .287/.374/.529 and a rWAR of 1.3.

Guerrero is a 28 year-old Cuban defector who signed for four years and $28 million before the 2014 season. He started the season with the Dodgers, but was soon sent to Albuquerque (The Dodgers 2014 Triple-A affiliate). While he hit .329 with 15 homers and 14 doubles in 65 Triple-A games last season, the biggest news involving Guerrero was the fact that he lost part of his ear in a fight with fellow teammate Miguel Olivo. 

However, Guerrero has put that incident in the back burner and is having a great start to the 2015 campaign. He has a .313/.348/.687 slash line along with eight homers and beat out teammate Joc Pederson for NL Rookie of the Month for April. 

A formal decision between the two will most likely not be made for a few weeks. Nevertheless, Turner has the current upper hand and will probably get the job. Turner has started 15 games at third compared to Guerrero's nine, including four of the last five games. Guerrero has spent most of his games in left field this season and played most of his games last season at second base. 

Justin Turner
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Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman is known for signing and trading for players who have good on-base percentages and defensive skills. In both of those categories, Justin Turner is the better player, which is bad news for Guerrero. Guerrero has gotten playing time this year due to the injuries to Yasiel Puig and Carl Crawford. When Puig comes back, it is going to be really tough for Guerrero to get playing time. Pederson and Andre Either are both having monster years and will not be displaced when Puig comes back (unless Either is traded). Scott Van Slyke is also having a good year as a utility outfielder. Guerrero has potential to be a very good player in this league; yet, it looks like he is going to be out of starting job soon. If he becomes available in the near future through trade, I would look to make a deal for him in a heartbeat. But in the meantime, he should focus on playing well and trying to earn a spot on the contending Dodgers. For Turner, he just needs to keep playing well and putting in work. He is on his way to become an above-average major league third baseman, which is exactly what the Dodgers need.

2015 Minor League Baseball Preview: Teams To Watch

Iowa Cubs – Triple-A – Pacific Coast League

Javier Baez
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The Cubs made headline news when they sent down slugger Kris Bryant to Triple-A. He will most likely spend about two weeks with Iowa before he is called up to the big league club. Along with Bryant, former top ten prospect (he was not eligible this year to be on top prospects list) Javier Baez was sent down to the Iowa as well. Baez had 229 plate appearances in the big show last year, but he did not play as well as he would have hoped. He hit .169 with .227 OBP along with 95 strikeouts compared to 15 walks. He had too many swings-and-misses to be successful and has been working on his approach ever since he got moved up. His spring training numbers were not much better than his numbers from the 2014 season (.182 batting average, .237 OBP, 21 strikeouts and three walks in 55 at-bats) and as a result he was sent down to Iowa. This was the smart move. Baez has been in a slump since August and he needs to find his groove, while working on his approach and drawing more walks. Baez is an important part of the Cubs future plans. He does not have to be drawing walks at a substantial clip, but he cannot hit .200 and have an OBP of .250. Those numbers will not lead to success. If he could hit over .260 with an OBP north of .320 to go along with 30+ homers, he could be one of the best second baseman in baseball. He still has that potential. However, he needs to reboot in Iowa first, where I expect he will stay until at least June.

Charlotte Knights – Triple-A  – International League

Also not in Chicago, albeit on the south side, is southpaw Carlos Rodon. Rodon has the makings of a future number one starter. After being drafted third overall in 2014 out of North Carolina State, Rodon rose through the ranks, reaching Triple-A Charlotte. He performed well in Spring Training, where he had a 3.06 ERA and 1.25 WHIP in 17.2 innings. However, the White Sox sent him down to Charlotte, where he will start the season. The decision to put Rodon back in the minors raised some eyebrows, but will beneficial for Rodon. If Rodon stayed with the big club, he most likely would have been a relief pitcher, not a starter. While Rodon should be up with the White Sox before the September roster expansion, he may still be slotted in as a bullpen guy. Getting more starts under his belt this year will only help him in both the short-term and the long-term. Having him stay in the bullpen for one full season may set him back long-term. Rodon will be up at soon point this year, especially if the White Sox are in the playoff hunt.

Biloxi Shuckers – Double-A – Southern League

Orlando Arcia
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The 2015 season is the inaugural season for the Biloxi Shuckers. The Shuckers moved from Huntsville over the winter, but their major league affiliate, Milwaukee, stayed the same. Biloxi will play at least the first two months of the season on the road as their stadium, MGM Park, gets completed. The first game at MGM Park is set for Saturday, June 6 against the Mobile BayBears, although the date could be pushed back if delays occur. On the baseball side of the club, the Brewers top two prospects are starting off the season in Biloxi. Middle infielder Orlando Arcia and outfielder Tyrone Taylor are both top 100 prospects according to Baseball America and project to reach the Brew Crew by 2016. Both guys are not big power hitters, but Taylor has good pop (he hit 36 doubles in 2014 and 33 in 2013). If they have solid years, they will be in contention for roster spots with Milwaukee in 2016. 

Chattanooga Lookouts  – Double-A – Southern League

The Lookouts changed their affiliation over the winter, moving from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Minnesota Twins. With the change, two of the best prospects in baseball will start the season in Chattanooga. Outfielder Byron Buxton and third baseman Miguel Sano are both top fifteen prospects (Buxton is the #1 prospect according to MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus, while Baseball America has him #2 after having him #1 last season) coming off injury-riddled 2014 campaigns. Sano did not play one game in 2014 due to Tommy John, while Buxton played in only 31 games due to a wrist injury and a concussion. Buxton has five-tool potential, while Sano has All-Star potential as a slugging third baseman who is competent defensively. This is a big season for both players. Even though both are heading into their year-21 seasons, their injuries put them behind schedule. They need to get back on track, prove that they can overcome injuries, and still have the potential to be All-Stars. 

Potomac Nationals – Class-A Advanced – Carolina League

Lucas Giolito
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Jayson Werth is starting the season with the Potomac Nationals while rehabbing from shoulder surgery. While he is not expected to be there long, the most fascinating player in Potomac is not with the club yet. Lucas Giolito is a top ten prospect and is currently the number one right handed pitching prospect in baseball. He was outstanding during the 2014 season with the Auburn Doubledays and Hagerstown Suns. He went 10-2 with a 2.20 ERA, 10.1 Strikeouts per Nine, and a 1.000 WHIP. Giolito is staying in extended spring training, along with fellow top 100 prospect Reynaldo Lopez, because he started throwing later than the other pitchers. Giolito had Tommy John in August 2012 and the Nationals have been very cautious with Giolito. He only threw 98 innings last season and was not allowed to start throwing until he reported to spring training. He is expected to be assigned to Potomac later this month. Giolito is not the only one with potential in Potomac. Lopez will likely join the club with Giolito. Middle infielder Wilmer Difo, pitcher Nick Pivetta, and third baseman Drew Ward are all top prospects in the Washington organization that are currently in Potomac. P-Nats fans are in for a good year. 

With NHL Season Winding Down, Here Are Four Teams to Look Out For

Winnipeg Jets 

Ondrej Pavelec
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The Jets have won five out of their last six games as they look to claim the first wild card spot. Winnipeg has been the surprise team of the NHL this season. They were predicted to finish in the bottom third of the league by many pundits and started off the season 2-5. Since then, the Jets are 37-19-12. The success of the Jets has been due to the Winnipeg netminders  Goalies Ondrej Pavelec and Michael Hutchinson have been great. Pavelec, who led the league in goals allowed in each of the last three season, has rebounded this year. He has a .919 save percentage and 2.35 goals against average. Hutchinson, a rookie, has put up great numbers as Pavelec's back-up. He has a .913 save percentage and 2.43 goals against average. With seven games left, the Jets need to win a few more games to secure their playoff spot. They play the current #7 seed Minnesota Wild on April 6 and the Calgary Flames, the team right behind Winnipeg in the Wild Card race, on April 11 in the last game of the season. The Jets have upper hand in the playoff race and should be able to clinch a playoff spot. While there have been hiccups (Most notably, the Evander Kane track suit incident), the Jets have surprised the hockey world by being a playoff team that will be a tough out in the playoffs. 

Boston Bruins

Boston has struggled this season. Yesterday, they snapped a six game losing streak (that included an shootout loss to 20-46-8 Buffalo) with a 4-2 win over the Rangers. The Bruins are currently in the eight spot in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of Ottawa. Tuukka Rask has been good, but not as good as he was last season. Team leaders Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara have also been worse this year than in previous seasons. There have been some bright spots on the squad; most notably defenseman Dougie Hamilton and forward Loui Eriksson. The Bruins have seven games left to clinch the final spot in the Eastern Conference. With games against Toronto and Carolina, Boston has some easy games; but, the Bruins also play the Red Wings, the Lightning, and the Capitals. All three of those teams are in the playoffs. The playoff teams may sit their starters, but that does not mean those games will be shoo-ins. If Boston misses the playoffs, the teams in the East will breathe a sign of relief because a high-quality team will be watching the playoffs from home.

Nashville Predators

After two consecutive seasons of missing the playoffs, the Nashville Predators have the best record in the Central Division, the best division in the NHL. After missing a good chunk of the 2013-14 season, goalie Pekka Rinne is having a great season. He has 41 of the team's 47 wins and has a .926 save percentage and a 2.10 goals against average. The Predator offense is led by Rookie of the Year candidate and 2015 All-Star Filip Forsberg. Forsberg has 23 goals, six of them game winners, and 36 assists. Forsberg along with defenseman and fellow 20 year-old Seth Jones are two of the most promising players in the NHL. The Predators mix of young talent and seasoned veterans has led them to become one of the favorites for the Stanley Cup.

New York Islanders

John Taveres
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In their final season on Long Island, the New York Islanders are giving their fans a season to remember. The Isles are 44-27-5. The last time a Islanders team had more than 44 wins was the 1983-84 season when they lost in the Stanley Cup Finals. This year's team has the potential to go farther than the 1983-84 team. John Taveres is having another fabulous year. He has 34 goals, 40 assists, and averages just under one point per game. While Taveres is the team leader in all of those stats by a large margin; however, he is not the only player who is playing well on offense. Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, Kyle Okposo, and Ryan Strome are all playing extremely well, just not earning as many points as Taveres. In net, Jaroslav Halak is having a very good first season as an Islanders goaltender. He has been a stabilizing force New York has been missing recently. The Islanders have the potential to make a run to the Stanley Cup Final, but it will depend on its young stars living up to their potential.